


who we love

by standup



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Friends to Lovers, Gratuitous Mentions of The Banana Splits Movie (2019), M/M, Minor Choi Soobin/Ji Changmin | Q, Swearing, Valentine's Day, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29459175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/standup/pseuds/standup
Summary: Hueningkai is late, Soobin is an emotional wreck, Yeonjun loves Wooyoung very much, Beomgyu lies and Taehyun helps all of them
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun, Choi Yeonjun/Jung Wooyoung
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	who we love

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i don't actually stan TXT. they're very lovely boys and beomgyu is (one of the few) loml(s), but i don't think i know them well enough to reassure whoever might read this that they won't be a little -- or very -- ooc in this, hehe
> 
> this was just a fun thing i came up w/ in a whim, wrote it in less than 24 hours and it's the first work i post (and finish) in over two years! and also, ik ik, it's no longer v-day -- but who gives a damn ab that rly!! love is 4ever o^o
> 
> ok that's it i hope you enjoy ♡♡♡

_Hueningkai_

Late. He is so, so goddamn late and, for once, Hueningkai is _not_ at fault.

Well, technically, it is his fault.

Perhaps this could have been prevented by baking both batches of brownies the prior night, a thing of shoving them into the oven for a quick heat-up the next morning so that they would be warm and ready to be eaten.

But Kai doesn’t work _well_ under pressure, and while he spent a good week taking note of his classmates’ particularities and keeping a close watch on their moods, the day before Valentine’s Day will _always_ be nerve-wracking. Big events make him recoil in anxiety, putting things off until it’s almost too late – but not quite.

On the bright side, at least he had the foresight to prepare the other little gifts in anticipation. Chocolates, gluten free cookies, a few flowers, cards: Kai has everything he wanted to have for today. Except the brownies.

“You’re a bit of a dumbass, aren’t you?” Taehyun oh, so unhelpfully, asks from his spot. Leaning against the counter with his pristine school uniform on and an aura of nonchalance, Kai’s friend is the picture perfect of carefreeness.

It’s not as welcome as Kai would want it to be. “And you’re friends with me, so what does that make you?” he throws.

Taehyun shrugs. “A charitable soul, maybe?” Before Kai can retort with anything, Taehyun makes his way to the oven and crouches down in front of it, staring at both trays. “The only person who’s willing to risk being tardy to help you get these to school?”

“I really hate you,” Kai announces, though it is very much untrue and quickly gets rebuked half an hour later, when Taehyun pushes open the ajar school gates for him while balancing a _still_ hot tray of brownies on his gloved hands and shouldering the weight of Kai’s bag.

“You’re the best friend I could possibly have.”

Taehyun smiles smugly at Kai’s words and places the batch of chocolate treats on an empty desk. “And you better not forget it,” he says before leaving, not without taking a well deserved brownie with him.

Kai sighs, happy that he made it on time—barely but, well, semantics. What matters is that he’s here, with all his V-Day presents ready to be handed out and his classmates ogling the delicious (and tethering on lukewarm) dessert he prepared just for them.

“Who’s the lucky gal?” asks Yeojin as she approaches him, “Or pal.”

He smiles, offering her a personalized card with a frog on the cover. “You,” he responds, and when he catches Yeojin’s gaping expression, he hurries out: “and everyone here! I mean, you and—and the class.”

She sighs in relief. “Now, that’s more like it. You’re cute, but not really my type,” Yeojin confesses with a wink and a cheeky grin. She diverts her attention back to the punny _Hoppy Valentine!_ card in her hands. “This is really sweet, though. Thanks, Kai!”

Yeojin skips away after receiving a cookie, eyes warm when she takes it. Kai translated that as _thanks for noticing_ _[my distaste for brownies]_ and gave himself a pat on the back.

Kai _loves_ Valentine’s Day, absolutely lives for it. He’s been single as a pringle (and the expression doesn’t make much sense: Pringles are stacked together in a can) since the day he was born, but he’s never _not_ had people to share this festivity with. He’s got his family, tight-knit as they are, and his four dumbass friends; he’s also got his classmates but, in the long run, Kai realized that maybe _they_ didn’t have anyone to celebrate this corporate holiday with.

It took him some time before deciding to do something about it, some time before nodding his head and saying _yeah, this year_ will _be different_.

So he spent a concerning amount of time _“watching”_ (Kai refuses to use that word; he was merely studying. Beomgyu insists that he’s a freak) his peers and employed the newly gained knowledge to make the _best_ semi-personalized V-Day gifts ever. All of his classmates get a card that reminds Kai of them and a treat that they can enjoy – and yes! That also includes his gluten intolerant friends, the vegans and the diabetics, thank you very much.

The idea of letting them know that Kai appreciates them, that they’re seen and heard and that they matter, was his drive to make it through the entire process of getting the things.

Even if he did have to deal with this morning’s fiasco but, hey, no plan can be 100% perfect, right?

Before he can give away any more gifts, Mrs. Yook finally arrives and tells them to settle down. It should bum him out that his treats will only get colder from now on, but the way his teacher’s ever present frown melts away when she notices the note and the cake pops on her desk makes Kai not mind it all that much.

**

_Soobin_

The classroom is loud and alive, decorated with red paper mache hearts and pink bubble letters stuck on the board at the very back of the room, and Soobin is _frozen_.

He’s got one incredibly cold, small bottle of strawberry milk on one hand, his beating heart on the other and a love confession rising up his throat like bile. And there, amongst the students of class 3-A, is _him_ , Ji Changmin in all his vibrant glory, laughing without a care in the world with his shoes on a seat and his butt on the desk.

He’s so _painfully_ cool.

“And I’m a giant loser,” Soobin laments, running out of the senior’s classroom and turning to the left, where Taehyun waits expectantly for him. “I can’t do this.”

Correction: Taehyun waited expectantly, but now he looks disappointed yet not surprised in the least. It kind of wounds Soobin’s ego.

Soobin gets hit, because of course he does, and pretends his arm doesn’t hurt where Taehyun’s slap landed. “You’re a wuss, that’s what you are,” his friend says.

“Ouch?”

“It’s too early for me to give a shit about your feelings while pretending I don’t give a shit about your feelings,” Taehyun deadpans. “What you need to do, instead of being a coward outside of Changmin’s classroom, is put on your big boy pants, walk in there and say,” Soobin’s eyes widen when Taehyun puts his hands on Soobin’s shoulders: “ _Ji Changmin, I am a giant loser who’s madly in love with you. Accept my confession – or don’t, I don’t give a f—”_

“Tae!” Soobin whines. “I do give a fuck about what he does with my confession – I give several fucks, actually!”

Taehyun sighs with the wistfulness of an ancient being, realizing that the hero he waited over a thousand years for under a willow tree is nothing more than a chicken. Soobin can admit that. “Come on,” Taehyun says, “what happened to my overly confident, albeit a bit shy, least favorite Sagittarius friend? He’s not usually like this.”

It’s Soobin’s turn to sigh, dejected. “He fell for the most badass senior in school, that’s what.”

He’s sure they paint quite the picture: Soobin, sitting on the floor with his back against the very wall that separates him from the root of his queasy stomach, and Taehyun looming over him, staring him down. Soobin feels very, very small like this.

When he looks up at his friend, Soobin finds him wincing. “Don’t be a jerk!” he yells at Taehyun.

“Man, that was _cringe_ ,” Taehyun says through a shiver before plopping down next to Soobin. “For what it’s worth, you’re just psyching yourself out. Changmin likes you, he’s made it very clear before.”

It’s not a lie, Soobin knows. Changmin is always doting on him, walking by his side after the student council meetings are over and even going as far as offering Soobin a ride home. Oftentimes, Soobin would catch the senior looking at him in a certain way that makes him feel self aware but not insecure, just like he’s been _seen_.

And sure, Changmin has also tried holding his hand before Soobin pulls back, afraid that his clammy fingers would gross the other out, and Changmin likes spending time with him and asking about his day.

But.

“He likes everyone. Well, a lot of people,” he adds as an afterthought, remembering Changmin’s sour face whenever he crossed paths with Lee Jaehyun and Kim Mingyu. It’s fortunate that they graduated last year, or else Soobin thinks the school would’ve witnessed several… confrontations. “What makes _me_ so special?”

“I’m not going to confess I am madly in love with you, if that’s what you’re expecting,” Taehyun jokes. “I don’t know what Changmin sees in you; you’re awkwardly confident and chew with your mouth open, you cannot walk two steps without tripping over your own feet and you think The Banana Splits Movie is the scariest film when, really, it’s just gory and you’re a wimp—”

Soobin interjects, “Is this going anywhere positive for my self-esteem any time soon?”

“ _B_ _ut_ ,” Taehyun continues, “Changmin still rushes to you as soon as school’s out to take you home, and he buys you your gross little banana chip snacks and agrees with you that Fleegle is the most terrifying Banana Split, even though he considers the movie pure comedy, so if that doesn’t tell you anything then I don’t know what to do with you, Choi Soobin.”

Well, it _does_ tell him something: that he’s an idiot. And he’s been wasting so much time out here with Taehyun, pondering the possibilities of Changmin rejecting him when, really, while it _could_ happen, Changmin isn’t a bad person – he’s a person that cares about Soobin and his feelings. Were he to turn Soobin down, he would do it gently.

Ripping open the bottle of strawberry milk, Soobin gulps the whole thing down and smacks the empty container on the floor when he’s done. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and, with as much conviction as he can muster, announces: “I’m _doing_ it.”

He stands up suddenly, effectively startling Taehyun but Soobin doesn’t pay attention to that. “I am walking into that classroom! And I am walking up to Ji Changmin and telling him that I am madly in love with—!”

“Me, I hope.”

Soobin almost breaks his neck and ankles twisting on his heel to look at the person behind him and hates every second of it. Hates every minuscule, embarrassing nano second of realizing that Ji Changmin is standing right there, smiling with a shy dimple and a flush on his cheeks, hands clasped in front of him in a nervous knot.

“Changmin,” Soobin gasps.

And Taehyun whistles slowly. “Talk about comedies.”

**

_Yeonjun_

Hiding in a bathroom stall that smells of piss and chlorine to make a call isn’t ideal, really, but it’s the only place where Yeonjun can take his phone out without the threat of his teachers and the hall monitor catching him in the act.

Besides, it’s for Wooyoung, and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for his boyfriend.

“ _We_ have _to go_ ,” Wooyoung’s high-pitched voice sounds static-y over the line, but insistent and full of conviction as always.

Yeonjun smiles, speaking hushedly. “I know, and we will, I promise.”

He can hear hurried footsteps outside of the restroom, probably kids from his year enjoying recess without a care in the world, but they’re not loud enough to drown out Wooyoung’s humming. _“Tickets are sold out already, though_ ,” he whines before grumbling, “ _Bunch of unoriginal couples, what’s so romantic about Spear B? All of his songs are depressing!”_

“So why do you want to go, Mr. Steal-Ya-Man?” Yeonjun teases.

Wooyoung’s pout is almost audible in his words. _“‘Cuz his music was what we bonded over…_ ” he says, shy.

Yeonjun bites back an enamored grin at the memory.

They were insignificant freshmen, looking for places where they would fit and only being given the boot by most people they tried approaching (back then, it hurt, but now they understand: _freshmen_.) They found each other, in the end, sitting by each other in the courtyard; Wooyoung kept tapping a familiar beat on his knees, one that matched perfectly with the melody Yeonjun had been humming to himself.

They looked at each other in realization and recognition, and asked at the same time: “ _Spear B?_ ”

The rest… is history.

“Which is why I will make sure we get into his gig, even if it kills me!” he proclaims loudly, before remembering where he is and why he’s there.

Wooyoung says, “ _Please don’t die, mourning your death on Valentine’s Day wouldn’t be—”_

Yeonjun closes his eyes. “Don’t finish that sentence.”

“ _Okay_ ,” Wooyoung says, follows it by a tense two seconds of silence, and then: “ _Poggers_.”

Yeonjun isn’t sure who hangs up first after that, probably both of them did at the same time, but what he does know is that he’s got an important mission to see through: getting tickets for Spear B’s semi-surprise concert at the local café.

It won’t be no easy feat, since Spear B became kind of a hot celebrity overnight just a year ago and he’s no longer their little secret that they gushed over, but Yeonjun’s got this. Why? Because he has—

“The best friends in the world who have connections to important people, namely the owner of Blue O!”

“I am not commiting nepotism to get you in Spear B’s concert,” Beomgyu tells him right off the bat, not even sparing him a second glance as he picks his things up from the desk and walks out of the nearly empty classroom. “See ya later, Tae!” A beat of silence, a dead stare thrown Yeonjun’s way, and then Beomgyu leaves.

Yeonjun frowns at his now-ex friend’s exit before directing an imploring gaze at the only savior he has left. “Kang Taehyun, I—!”

Taehyun puts up a hand, stopping his spiel. “No, you did not bathe, clothe and feed me, and if you did, it wasn’t out of your own volition. I remember you receiving dirty money from my crazy mother, Choi Yeonjun, I remember vividly.”

Yeonjun blinks. “So that’s a maybe?”

His friend sighs and begins gathering his stuff, too, but he doesn’t make to get out of the room. “Listen, I can try, but just because it belongs to my aunt I cannot promise anything,” he says, resignated.

“Trying is good,” Yeonjun smiles freely, “better than leaving me for dead. Like Choi Beomgyu.”

Taehyun giggles. “He’s just a bit moody today, don’t mind him.” He shrugs good-naturedly. “Okay, now get out of my classroom, student council’s meeting in five minutes.”

“Oh, right, you have that!” Yeonjun lets out a _heh_. “Dork.”

“Actually, my aunt and I aren’t on speaking terms right now—”

“Me, I am the dork because I’m not part of such an important club. The backbone of this school, really. I am ashamed.”

Taehyun still sends him off and flips him the bird as Yeonjun goes, but tells Yeonjun that he’ll give him a call to let him know the outcome and that he’ll be sending his aunt a text right away, so Yeonjun feels at peace and giddy all over.

This is his very first Valentine spent with Wooyoung as a couple and not disguising their not-dates under the excuse of _we’re friends and we’re single so let’s Hang Out – and bring other friends!_ Which, really, wasn’t bad at all, but there was always something gnawing at Yeonjun, pushing him to hold Wooyoung’s hand and to tell him… something. Something important.

In the prior years, he hadn’t known what that could’ve been: remember to call your mom? Did you do Mr. Sohn’s homework? Are you lactose intolerant, I can’t remember?

And then, one day as they shared Soobin’s loveseat and watched a very shitty movie about murder animatronics, it hit him. When Wooyoung cowered under Yeonjun’s arm, effectively startling him, and chastised him for not being able to protect Wooyoung in a situation like this, Yeonjun thought _but I want to_ – and that was it.

To this day, he still thinks it was a stroke of luck that Wooyoung reciprocated—reciprocates—the feelings. That he’d been so happy at Yeonjun’s incredibly lame and unplanned confession that he’d leapt into the other’s arms, throwing them off the bed and giving them mild concussions.

They’ve been going strong for almost seven months now, so this 14th just _has_ to be sp— it has to be poggers. It has to be so, so poggers.

**

_Beomgyu_

Despite the blush on his cheeks, the stuttering beating in his chest and the rush of adrenaline that courses through his body in certain moments, Beomgyu is _not_ in love and he most certainly isn’t writing a love note addressed to anyone this Valentine’s.

But _if_ (and that’s a very big _if_ ) he were,

“What should I do?”

Taehyun snorts. “It’s so funny how people keep asking _me_ for help today.” He shakes his head. “What makes you think I would know?” he asks.

Beomgyu says nonsense through gritted teeth, though, in his head, it’s a string of words not suitable for the school grounds they’re still on. “Well, you’re thoughtful! You— you think! I don’t know!” He resists the urge to flop down on the floor and throw a tantrum, he’s better than that. “Help meeee, Kang Taehyun!!!”

“I will,” Taehyun rolls his eyes, “but you gotta fess up: who is it?”

Among the list of things Beomgyu doesn’t like there is Taehyun’s insufferable smirk, so perfect and know-it-all, like he can see right through Beomgyu and everything he doesn’t say. But it’s not like that, because Beomgyu’s been holding back the name of his crush for the longest time and no amount of Sherlock-y stunts has lead Taehyun to discovering it.

Until now, when he definitely needs to know who it is that Beomgyu plans on wooing, so Beomgyu swallows his pride and a big breath of air and just… spills the metaphorical beans: “Somi.”

“Jeon!?” Taehyun exclaims, stopping dead on his tracks with his mouth agape. Beomgyu looks around in desperation before furiously shushing him. “Sorry! It’s just… _Jeon Somi?”_

“That shocking, huh?” Beomgyu gets it: he can count on one hand the number of (public) interactions they’ve had with each other and still have fingers left.

But detention is a thing for kids like them, the loose-mouthed ones who still do well enough to be at the top of their class. And so kids like them sit together at 1:45 p.m. in Mrs. Ahn’s desolate classroom, scribbling the answers to their homeworks in sync and helping each other out, sharing silly secrets like the time Somi broke a chair and pretended it wasn’t her and when Beomgyu accidentally called a teacher sweetheart out of habit.

Those experiences are fun and make Beomgyu feel breathless and reckless, because he can say anything to Somi and she will receive it well, encourage or advice him against something. She’s just so sweet and funny and caring…

“Okay, ew,” Taehyun gags, “that’s got to be the mushiest thing I’ve ever heard and I had to put up with _Soobin_ today!”

Beomgyu winces, chuckling nervously. “I’ve got it bad, don’t I?”

“So bad,” Taehyun clicks his tongue as though disappointed, “but, luckily for you, I’ve got ideas in this wonderful head of mine to help you with your conundrum.”

Beomgyu stumbles a bit when Taehyun’s heavy arm falls on his shoulders and can’t help but shrink in on himself. Confused, he asks, “What’s a condumun?”

Taehyun fixes him a look: deadpan and undisturbed, but very clearly done with him. “Oh, you little bastard, you.”

“I’m older than you!”

But Taehyun is more creative than Beomgyu, and after he gets told that Somi’s is actually quite a lot like his, Taehyun flies through the brainstorming process like a champ, only stopping to ask key questions about her that could make or break the entire thing. Fortunately, it’s a completely smooth run, short jabs and bickers here and there, but they make it work.

The classroom they occupy after school hours feels like a sanctuary, the quietness disrupted only by Beomgyu’s butter fingers dropping the scissors and Taehyun’s cursing when the Exacto knife slices more than it should. Beomgyu doesn’t point out how that’s basically Taehyun’s fault and they’re nearly done by the time Taehyun has to run to the bus station.

“Sorry I can’t give you a ride today,” Beomgyu pouts regretfully.

Taehyun shrugs, a sweet smile on his face despite the tiredness in his eyes. “Sorry I can’t help you finish the card.”

“You’ve done more than enough, Tae, it’s fine,” he reassures, looking down at their creation: a simple red construction paper folded in half with a direct yet not pushy confession on the inside, and a pink heart and some other things on the outside in the works. Beomgyu smiles. “It’s coming along great thanks to you.”

While it’s true, there’s an uncomfortable feeling brewing in Beomgyu’s stomach, questions jetting through his head like paper airplanes: _will this be enough? Am I doing this right? What’ll happen if this doesn’t go the way I want?_

Taehyun, ever the observer, must notice the worry emanating from Beomgyu. He approaches the table with gentle steps. “If she’s as cool as you make her out to be,” Taehyun says softly, “she’ll love this.”

“And me?” Beomgyu asks so quietly that the words break.

His friend smiles. “Why not?”

After Taehyun leaves, and Beomgyu is left to write the name on the recipient on the front of the note, he heaves out a huge breath and thinks _yeah, why not?_

**

_Taehyun_

For someone who doesn’t have a partner, Valentine’s Day has surely been incredibly tiring for Taehyun, but he can say it was all worth it.

Taehyun is not sure he knows the kind of love people go crazy over on this day. The kind that makes someone visit every store in town to find the right ingredients for a vegan recipe; the one that has a person doubting themself in a crucial moment, heart in hand, ready to throw or give it away; the love that people move mountains for; the kind that pushes someone to write their feelings out on colored paper in glitter ink.

But Taehyun is familiar with the happiness that comes from seeing his friends experience that kind of feeling, their giddiness contagious and beautiful to look at.

He knows the warmth in his heart when Hueningkai shines under the gratefulness of their peers, elated to bring a smile to their faces as big as his own heart.

He knows the sense of pride that came with seeing Soobin and Changmin walking out of school together like always, but this time with their hands linked and their shoulders brushing against the other’s with a purpose.

He knows what Yeonjun’s usually proper style of texting looks like after receiving good news, how he overuses exclamation points and cap locks and taps his fingers all over the emoji keyboard, just to express gratitude.

And he knows Beomgyu, reserved and quiet, confessing a secret against the dim glow of the backup lights keeping them company in the empty hallways. He knows the churning in his own stomach, the iciness of his hands and the burning jealousy behind his ears.

Maybe… maybe Taehyun does know a kind of love. A certain one that makes him swallow down the sea water threatening to split his seams open and go past the shore, bursting out at the most inconvenient of times and push him out of the safe zone.

It’s possible that he knows the kind of love that comes with falling for a best friend.

But it’s whatever, Taehyun can live through this. He’s seventeen and has the most embarrassing and unrequited crush on Choi Beomgyu, but the world isn’t ending and he’ll get over it eventually. Beomgyu not liking him back, that is.

In the meantime, he can only frown at his cellphone, trying to decipher what Beomgyu’s problem is.

**gom-gyu** says:

i want to trash this card

it’s not enough and i will be  
the laughingstock of the world (5:43 p.m.)

the biggest loser this town  
has ever seen, i tell you!! (5:44 p.m.)

**taehyun** says:

you need to grow a backbone  
choi beomgyu (5:46 p.m.)

i told you she’ll like it  
do you not trust me?  
(5:47 p.m.)

**gom-gyu** says:

i do trust you!! (5:56 p.m.)

that’s why i’m scared,  
i think

because what if goes right,  
what do i do then?

are we together? do we  
build up to it? (5:58 p.m.)

idk there’s just… so much  
that i’m considering now  
(5:59 p.m.)

**taehyun** says:

if

if you waste all my effort,  
all the sweat blood and tears i  
put into that card by not  
confessing (6:01 p.m.)

i won’t even consider  
killing you

i’ll just do it (6:02 p.m.)

**gom-gyu** says:

scary

but you’re right

i did make you think, plan  
and do, after all (6:04 p.m.)

btw, i’m outside your house  
open the door plz (6:05 p.m.)

**taehyun** says:

?

are you dreaming i’m not  
getting up to open any damn  
door (6:07 p.m.)

why are you even here (6:08 p.m.)

**gom-gyu** says:

i’ll tell you if you open  
the door :D (6:08 p.m.)

“What could possibly warrant you showing up on my doorstep, unannounced and, most importantly, uninvited?” Taehyun says in lieu of a greeting.

Beomgyu is wrapped up in a big purple hoodie that must have been Soobin’s at some point and his dark hair has been ruffled by the wind, though Taehyun can tell he did his best to tame it if the way it’s flat in some places is anything to go by.

“I needed to drop something off,” he says simply, brandishing a paper bag with a small but legible _To. Taehyun_ written on the left upper corner. Taehyun’s brows shoot up to his hairline and before he can make any questions, Beomgyu informs him, “I’m doing a friend a favor.”

“Which friend?” Taehyun takes the bag, albeit a little warily.

Beomgyu, unhelpful as ever, shrugs and gives him a smile. “Open it and find out. I’m leaving now, see ya, Taehyun!”

“What, just like that!?” he asks, scandalized, watching as Beomgyu steps off his porch.

His friend turns around to nod at him, goofy grin still on his face. “Just like that! Happy V-Day, by the way!” and then he’s off, skipping down the street, leaving Taehyun in shock and not knowing where to look: the retrieving back of the guy he, unfortunately, has feelings for calls his best friend or… the present (?).

In the end, Beomgyu is out of sight before Taehyun can do anything about it, so he settles for uncovering what’s inside the bag.

With numb steps and shaky legs, Taehyun makes his way back into the house and then his room, sitting down on his bed with the gift on his lap.

Though his mind conjures up the most bizarre scenarios (it’s a bomb it’s a prank it’s a dream), Taehyun braves through them and unfolds the top of the bag, ripping out the few staples that kept it shut in the process, and has his heart stopping in his chest at what’s inside.

A handful of his favorite sweets and a brownie square wrapped in a plastic bag, a coupon to buy whatever he wants at the convenience store near the school with 45% off the total price and a napkin signed by the one and only Spear B, promising to bring Jinsoul, Taehyun’s favorite singer and a close friend of the rapper’s, with him next time.

He’s so overwhelmed he starts to giggle uncontrollably, taking the nearest pillow and shoving his face in it. Taehyun feels like screaming so he does – anything to let this feeling bigger than himself out of his body.

He turns the bag upside down and shakes it so everything falls on his bed. Everything around is too bright and he himself feels as though he’s oozing light and warmth and joy and emotions he’d never felt simultaneously. It’s dizzying, this sensation, but Taehyun can say it’s not bad at all.

Especially when the last item, one that got buried under the mountain of chocolates and the napkin, drops lightly onto his comforter.

It’s nothing much, just a simple red construction paper folded in half with a pink heart and some other things, like _To. Kang Taehyun_ written in glitter ink, on the outside and, though he hasn’t opened it yet, Taehyun knows the card bears a direct (yet not pushy) confession on the inside.

And, instead of Jeon Somi, it’s addressed to him.

( **taehyun** says:

i can’t believe you made  
me work on my own vday  
card (6:27 p.m.)

**gom-gyu** says:

no? hm, then we don’t  
know each other as well as  
i’d thought :( (6:35 p.m.)

well...

did you like it? (6:37 p.m.)

**taehyun** says:

guess you’ll find out  
tomorrow :) (6:41 p.m.)

**gom-gyu** says:

dude… not cool (6:42 p.m.)

**taehyun** says:

we are together, by  
the way (6:42 p.m.)

**gom-gyu** says:

HEHEHEHEH  
SWEET (6:43 p.m.)

**taehyun** says:

nevermind… (6:43 p.m.).)


End file.
